1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-optical device including a pair of substrates which sandwich an electro-optical material, such as liquid crystal. More particularly, the invention relates to an electro-optical device in which a shading film is provided on one of the substrates, such as a counter substrate, and the shading film delimits the aperture regions for the individual pixels.
2. Description of Related Art
Electro-optical devices, such as liquid crystal devices, exist in the related art. One type of such a device is an active matrix liquid crystal device in which thin-film transistors (hereinafter “TFTs”) for switching pixels are provided. In such a liquid crystal device, pixel electrodes are formed on a TFT array substrate provided with the TFTs, and a counter electrode is formed on a counter substrate which faces the TFT array substrate. While a plurality of pixel electrodes are arrayed in a matrix on the TFT array substrate, the counter electrode is formed uniformly over the entire surface of the counter substrate. Additionally, the TFTs are provided so as to correspond to the individual pixel electrodes. Alignment layers are generally provided on the pixel electrodes and the counter electrode, and a liquid crystal is interposed between the upper and lower alignment layers.
In such an electro-optical device, a shading film, which is referred to as a black matrix (BM) or black mask, formed of metallic chromium (Cr) or the like, is formed in a predetermined pattern, such as in a grid pattern or in a striped pattern, on the surface of the counter substrate on which the counter electrode is to be formed, namely, between the counter electrode and the counter substrate, so as to delimit the aperture regions of the individual pixels (i.e., the regions from which light actually contributing to display is emitted due to transmission or reflection), in other words, so as to delimit the non-aperture regions of the individual pixels (i.e., the regions, other than the aperture regions, from which light actually contributing to display is not emitted due to transmission or reflection). The shading film reduces or prevents light from leaking through the spaces between the pixels. As a result, the image contrast can be enhanced, and when a color filter is provided, color mixing can be reduced or prevented.
Additionally, the related art includes a technique for forming such a shading film, which delimits the aperture regions of the individual pixels, partially or entirely on the TFT array substrate as a so-called embedded shading film. The related art also includes a technique for constructing a shading film partially from the data lines, etc., on the TFT array substrate.